All-Star Showdown qualifying notes

Irwindale, Calif. -- Sean Caisse knows that all eyes in the NASCAR developmental world right now are on Joe Gibbs Racing's Joey Logano. And that's just fine for Caisse, who stole some of that attention by bumping Logano off the pole during Friday's qualifying for Saturday's NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown at Irwindale Speedway.

Caisse, who went out 40 out of 50 cars, qualified at 98.517 mph. He eclipsed Logano's fast time of 98.253.

"The biggest thing is who's on the outside of me," Caisse said. "He's been in the spotlight all year. For him to be in the pole position and then knock him off it is a hell of an accomplishment. He's a great driver."

Logano was the 23rd car in line for qualifying. Caisse said his late draw helped.

"The important part was not only the temperature, but mainly the visibility," Caisse said, noting the sun dipped below the horizon just as he took his second lap. "Really, it was a very lucky draw and I thought that had a huge factor in a good qualifying run."

Caisse finished second in the NASCAR Busch East standings to Logano and won the regular-season ending race at Dover International Speedway.

Mike Duncan qualified second at 97.890, followed by Logano's teammate Marc Davis at 97.768. Brian Ickler will start fifth and Matt Kobyluck sixth. Ickler won the West Series race at Irwindale in July, while Kobyluck is the defending champion of the Toyota All-Star Showdown.

Mike David, the West Series champion, qualified 15th but will have to start at the back Saturday. He got loose in turn 4 of his second qualifying lap and crushed the nose of the car into the wall just past the start-finish line.

The top 34 cars advanced to Saturday night's main event. The remaining 16 raced later Saturday night in the 50-lap 'Open' race, with the top six finishers transferring to Saturday's event.

-credit: nascar